Improvement in pocket-knives



A. E. ELMER. Pocket-Knives.

No. 199,966. Patented Feb. 5, 1878.

N PETERS, PHOTc-uTHaGRAH-En, WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

ALBERT E. ELMER, OF SHELBURNE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN POCKET-KNIVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 199,966, dated February 5,1878 application filed July 2, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT E. ELMER, of Shelburne Falls, of the county of Franklin, of the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pocket- Knives; and do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 aback view, of the knife as open. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal and transverse section of it. Fig. 4is a side view of the blade. Fig. 5 is an inner side view of the spring of the handle. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the handle.

In the handle of this knife there is no spring at the back for the blade to turn against. One of the side plates of the handle answers the purpose of a spring, it being for a sufficient distance from its upper end disconnected from the remainder of the handle. In making the handle, I either construct it of a single plate of metal, bent around in proper form, and slitted a short distance down the back, as shown, or I make it with the back and one side in one piece of metal, and with the other side fastened thereto by rivets or other suitable means, all as hereinafter more fully described and definitely claimed.

In the drawings, A denotes the handle, and B the blade. One side plate I) of the handle, as before mentioned, is separate from the back 0 for a short distance from their upper ends, as shown at a, such side plate, immediately below the lower terminus ofthe separation, being united to the opposite side plate by a rivet, d. All that portion 0 of the side plate which is above the said rivet answers as a spring to the blade, andhas projecting from its inner surface a small stud or camshaped lug, f, which, when the blade is open, enters areccss, g, made in one side of the pivotal part of such blade, as shown. Such blade is provided with another recess, h, to receive the lug when the blade is shut. The lug is beveled or rounded,

so as to readilypass out of or into either recess at the proper times while the blade is being moved on'its pivot l, which is not fastened to or in the spring, the latter being free to play back and forth on the pivot.

My invention, though specially designed for pocket-knives, is applicable to dirk-knives, or articles having blades or devices to turn into or out of their handles, as'the blade of a penknife usually does.

A feature of my knife which distinguishes it from others is the side plate separate from the back from the upper ends of the two a sufficient distance downward to enable the upper portion of the said side plateto act as a spring, and move either toward or away from the back and the pivotal portion of the blade. This, in conjunction with the stud or lug f projected from such spring and the recesses g h in the blade, mainly constitutes my invention or improvement.

I do not claim a knife made as represented in United States Patent No. 188,231, March 13,

187 7-that is to say, with lugs to its blade to enter grooves or recesses in the sides of its handle when the blade is either open or closed. In such knife each side plate of the handle is united throughout its entire length to theback, and, as a consequence, it is more difficult to open and close the blade.

I claim In a pocket-knife or article of cutlery, as

described, the handle A, having one or both of its side plates b and its back 0 inone piece, an d one of such side plates slit and disconnected from the back for a sufficient distance from the upper end thereof to enable the said side plate to operate as a spring for the blade, such side plate being provided with a lug, f, to operate with recesses g h in the blade B, all being substantially as set forth.

ALBERT E. ELMER. .Witnesses: a R. H. EDDY, Sr-NTPIPER. 

